4wd woods buggy

[Islander]

After lurking around here for quite some time now, and that other site for years, I'm about to get to work on my own stuff    I'm getting a 88 Samurai for free, and everything is good on it, 'cept the body and engine.  The body was going to come off anyway, but I was wondering if anyone knew what other engines bolt to the Sammy's trans.  The one that is in it has been seized for years now, and I don't think it's rebuildable.   If I could get it to work, then no problems...

On another note, the buggy will be build all low budget and low tech.  That way i can beat the s^&t out of it and not worry about breaking anything    I'm gonna do a spring over swap on the stock axles, run a set of 31 X 10.5's that are coming off my ZR2, (going to 33's ) and run the diffs open with low tech turning brakes (two car parking brake handles hooked to the same axle) 

As this is going to be my first foray into the buggy building, any thoughts / suggestions?

[SPEC]

Low budget, Low tech.....
I LIKE IT
I'm not poisative but I think that the Toyota 22r motor will bolt up if you leave the top bolt out of the trans...The other 4 line up it I rember right...It's been along time...Or the geo tracker motor will bolt up directly

[Islander]

As long as I can stay with a carb I'm happy. 

[SPEC]

Both of them are carb motors...22R was mostly found in early 80's Celica's
and my 94 Geo Tracker is still carbed...I think I'll have to go look
Can't remember

[Islander]

And don't forget about all the 4-runners and pick-em-ups that came with the 22R also.  I know the motor, but I didn't know that it is workable with the Zuk trans, I'll have to see if my buddy still has his old truck in his yard!!

[trojan]

Tough as nails!

A mate tried to beat my time set in a bike powered rocket around my old track in his done up Suzuki Sierra (same thing as a Sammy I think). anyway he came round the banked corner and gunned it into the straight and hit a solid tree full tilt dead on the headlight. He swore (as you do), backed up and powered on and the next lap was 4 sec off my pace. Top effort considering how technical and nasty it was
Months earlier I hit the same tree in the rocket "but only just" as I had almost stopped in time... bent the front arm and stuff

[Islander]

  I love low tech    Somehow it always seems to be tougher then the high dollar stuff.  That is one of the reasons I'm staying with the leaf springs over a link set up.  The other is that I'm broke

[b.c.bugger]

partner, you are pretty much only limited by the space under the hood and your imagination!! Sammy's use a divorced transfer case, so you can take pretty much any motor/tranny you want and stuff it in there (as long as it will fit) and just build yourself a new driveshaft to the t-case and some motor mounts.
Check these guys out for pretty much anything you'd ever want for sammy upgrades...
http://www.calmini.com/

[Islander]

So the 355 smallblock chevy and TH400 trans I have sitting on the floor in the shop would work fine, lol.  I want to keep the 4 banger for basic fuel mileage reasons, and so I can keep parts longer, lol.  Plus, It would start with the small block, then the Dana 60's at dad's place would have to go in there, along with a set of 44's from my buddy's old Bronco....dammit, see how fast this gets out of hand

I'll just stick with the small motor for now

[b.c.bugger]

uh, well you're gonna find that a 350 with a th 400 is about 3' too long and 1' too wide, but you can probably find a mazda, datsun, toy or pretty much any 4 banger motor and tranny and stuff it in there. somewhere in the 100 hp ball park will give you about 50 hp more than what the zuk motor has stock and still be good on gas.

[Islander]

I was not even close to being serious about running that motor in the Sammy, in fact I think I may put it into my uncles CJ7 to replace the worn 350/th350 combo that is in it now.  I've been kind of entertaining the idea of running a VW diesel out of a Jetta or Golf, but I don't really want to get into all the wiring this summer.  Maybe over the winter....  Anyone know if the bell housing will work?

[b.c.bugger]

the stock bell housing will work but you need an adapter plate, which you can make yourself depending on your tools and skills. Check out these guys, they are the v.w. diesel sammy masters.
http://www.acmeadapters.com/store_engine.php

[Islander]

Hey, thanks, that site has some pretty cool stuff, and the prices seem pretty reasonable too.  Looks like I may have a good project to do this winter!

[Baloo]

After lurking around here for quite some time now, and that other site for years, I'm about to get to work on my own stuff    I'm getting a 88 Samurai for free, and everything is good on it, 'cept the body and engine.  The body was going to come off anyway, but I was wondering if anyone knew what other engines bolt to the Sammy's trans.  The one that is in it has been seized for years now, and I don't think it's rebuildable.   If I could get it to work, then no problems...

On another note, the buggy will be build all low budget and low tech.  That way i can beat the s^&t out of it and not worry about breaking anything    I'm gonna do a spring over swap on the stock axles, run a set of 31 X 10.5's that are coming off my ZR2, (going to 33's ) and run the diffs open with low tech turning brakes (two car parking brake handles hooked to the same axle) 

As this is going to be my first foray into the buggy building, any thoughts / suggestions?

l have a soft spot for the suzuki sj, l have 6 of them a 410 2 sammys and 3 lwb's,
l know exactly were you are coming from with the basic idea, l have been thinking along simalar lines about chopping one of the rusty sammy's up, or at least just throwing the body away as its so rusty,
over here we can buy a tube type body that just bolts onto the sj body mounts and keeping all the stock mechanicals , bit to pricy for my liking but would be very easy to make something simalar for not a lot of dollar l would think, heres a pic of what they look like 

heres a link to some more blitz pics l found on the net
http://www.blitz4x4.org.uk/projectphotogal.htm

with the engine as others have said any small rear wheel drive engine will drop straight in, lightness would be the main thing l would be looking for,  having done several engine swaps on the sj nothing is as easy as the vitara (sidekick ?) 1600 cc engine if you can find one, small adapter plate and it will bolt up to the sj box, or you can also do it with out an adapter plate, or you can use the vitara gear box and just drop the transfer of the back and fit a closing plate, l like vitara engine and boxes because theres plenty of autos about and l like auto
l have done a couple of diesels also, vw  work out dear due to the adapter plate and machining to the fly wheel, we also have much dearer shipping costs from acme so that might be why its so dear
peugeot is my favorite as the 1.9 engine turns up in other cars with a nice 5 speed rear drive box on the back, fso springs to mind and as no one else wants them they are cheap and almost drop straight in, heres one of my lwb one with the pug diesel fitted


lots of pics when you get started then, l will be following this one , in fact you have inspired my to get on with my sj,s

[Islander]

Good to hear I can inspire someone    Seriously, I found the sammy while looking for axles to build something along the same lines as the one in your post, so we are equal then!  I'm glad to hear that you have a bunch of them and still like them, that means that I won't be wasting my time with one when I get it!  I will try and get a bunch of pics up when I get it home, but it is not much to look at now.  Both doors and the front fenders are crap, and the bottom of the body is rusted out.  But, on a better note, I may have struck a good deal to buy another one that someone started to restore.  I would be bringing it home in boxes on the trailer, but he only want 25 bucks!!  Everything is there, but all over the place.